To ensure congressional approval of the amount of compliance costs imposed on the private sector by regulations issued under new or reauthorized Federal laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 14, 1997

Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. HERGER, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. GEKAS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. PARKER, Mr. PITTS, Mr. THORNBERRY, and Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, and the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To ensure congressional approval of the amount of compliance costs imposed on the private sector by regulations issued under new or reauthorized Federal laws.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘Regulatory Accountability Act of 1997’.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY: REQUIREMENT FOR CONGRESS TO APPROVE REGULATORY COSTS THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER NEW AND REAUTHORIZED FEDERAL REGULATORY LAWS.

(a) DEFINITIONS- Section 421 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (7) (relating to the definition of the term ‘Federal private sector mandate’) by inserting ‘a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in paragraph (14)(B) or’ after ‘means’; and

‘(A) a Federal private sector mandate that will result in costs for the private sector of $100,000,000 or more; or

‘(B) a provision in legislation, that authorizes appropriations to implement or enforce a Federal private sector mandate under an existing Federal law that will result in the imposition on the private sector, after the first date for which appropriations are authorized under the provision, of $100,000,000 or more in costs.

‘(16) REGULATORY COST AUTHORIZATION- The term ‘regulatory cost authorization’ means a statement of a dollar amount of costs incurred by the private sector that are authorized to result from regulations that--

‘(A) implement or enforce a controlled Federal private sector mandate, in the case of a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in paragraph (14)(A); or

‘(B) implement or enforce a Federal private sector mandate with respect to which appropriations are authorized by a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in paragraph (14)(B).

‘(17) COSTS- In paragraphs (14) and (16) of this section and section 424(b)(4) only, the term ‘costs’ means the reasonably quantifiable costs, including social, environmental, and economic, that are expected to result directly or indirectly from implementation of, or compliance with, a rule or an alternative to a rule.’.

(b) REQUIREMENT FOR REGULATORY COST AUTHORIZATION- Section 425(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658d(a)) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘and’ after the semicolon at the end;

(2) in paragraph (2) by striking the period at the end and inserting ‘; and’; and

‘(A) in the case of a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in section 421(14)(A), for each controlled Federal private sector mandate contained in the legislation; and

‘(B) in the case of a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in section 421(14)(B), for each Federal private sector mandate with respect to which appropriations are authorized by the controlled Federal private sector mandate.’.

(c) REQUIREMENT FOR CBO SCORING OF COSTS OF CONTROLLED FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR MANDATES- Section 424(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658c(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

‘(4) CONTROLLED FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR MANDATES- In addition to the other information required by this subsection, the Director shall prepare and include in the statement--

‘(A) an identification of each controlled Federal private sector mandate in the bill or joint resolution; and

‘(i) in the case of a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in section 421(14)(A), an estimate of the costs that will be incurred by the private sector under the controlled Federal private sector mandate; or

‘(ii) in the case of a controlled Federal private sector mandate described in

section 421(14)(B), an estimate of the costs that will be incurred by the private sector, after the first date for which appropriations are authorized under the mandate, to comply with each Federal private sector mandate with respect to which appropriations are authorized by the controlled Federal private sector mandate.’.

(a) RULES EXCEEDING REGULATORY COST AUTHORIZATION NOT EFFECTIVE- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as provided in subsection (d)--

(1) the total amount of costs that are required to be incurred by the private sector to comply with covered regulations issued under a covered law may not exceed the regulatory cost authorization for that covered law; and

(2) a proposed covered regulation shall not take effect unless the Director has published in the Federal Register a certification under this section that implementation of the regulation will not violate paragraph (1).

(b) SCORING OF COVERED REGULATIONS BY OMB-

(1) SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT- Before issuing a final covered regulation, the head of an agency shall submit the proposed covered regulation to the Director with a request that the Director certify under this section that implementation of the regulation will not violate subsection (a)(1).

(2) ISSUANCE OR DENIAL OF CERTIFICATION- Not later than 90 days after receiving a request for certification under paragraph (1) for a proposed covered regulation, the Director shall--

(A) after publication of notice and an opportunity for public comment, estimate the costs that would be incurred by the private sector in complying with the regulation;

(B) determine whether implementation of the regulation would violate subsection (a)(1); and

(C) publish in the Federal Register the estimate under subparagraph (A) and--

(i) a certification that implementation of the regulation will not violate subsection (a)(1); or

(ii) a finding that implementation of the regulation would violate subsection (a)(1).

(c) MAINTENANCE OF RECORD OF AGGREGATE COSTS OF COVERED REGULATIONS- The Director shall maintain and make publicly available for each covered law an estimate of the costs required to be incurred by the private sector to comply with each covered regulation in effect under the covered law.

(d) EMERGENCY EXCEPTION- Subsection (a) shall not apply to a regulation for which the President issues a written finding that the regulation is necessary because of an emergency.

(e) DEFINITIONS- In this section:

(1) COVERED LAW- The term ‘covered law’ means a provision of law that--

(A) is a controlled Federal private sector mandate under section 421(14)(A) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended by section 2 of this Act; or

(B) is a Federal private sector mandate that may be implemented or enforced using amounts appropriated under the authority of a provision which, when considered by Congress as legislation, was a controlled Federal private sector mandate under section 421(14)(B) of that Act.

(2) COVERED REGULATION- The term ‘covered regulation’ means a regulation issued under the authority of a covered law after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(3) DIRECTOR- The term ‘Director’ means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(4) REGULATORY COST AUTHORIZATION- (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the term ‘regulatory cost authorization’ has the meaning given that term is section 421 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended by section 2 of this Act.

(B) In the case of a covered law for which there is not a regulatory cost authorization as defined in that section, the regulatory cost authorization for the covered law is deemed to be zero.

(5) MISCELLANEOUS TERMS- Each of the terms ‘costs’, ‘Federal private sector mandate’, and ‘private sector’ has the meaning given that term in section 421 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended by section 2 of this Act.